The Royal Road
by 12309
Summary: Every six years, the Sinnoh Pokemon League Championship Tournament is held. Every trainer that has completed the pokemon league challenge is allowed to compete for the chance to join the Sinnoh pokemon league. Cynthia enters aiming to replace retiring champion Palmer. Written because I wanted some practice writing pokemon battles before starting on a larger story.
1. Pools Day 1

"And here we are, the first day of pools for the Sinnoh Pokemon League Championship Tournament! My oh my, this is the largest the tournament has been since back in our day, isn't it Professor Rowan?"

"Indeed, Professor Berlitz. With over 17,000 entrants, the competition will be the fiercest it has been in decades."

"I think we'll all be disappointed with anything less! We all just want to move on after that business with Team Galactic. The talk of this tournament, of course, is who will succeed 4-term champion Palmer Kurotsugu? Will Volkner the Boy Wonder finally break into the Pokemon League? And what will become of the trainers that deal with Team Galactic boss Cyrus? The answers to all these questions and more start now!"

"Indeed, Berlitz. For the edification of our viewers we have a very special guest joining us to explain how the tournament works and what it takes for a challenger to join the Sinnoh league."

"And what a guest he is! A one-time actor that decided to prove to all of us he is more than just a pretender, you all know him as the first and greatest rival of Ash Ketchum, but today he is an accomplished Pokemon researcher and former Gym Leader of the Indigo League, the one and only Shigeru Blue!"

"Thank you for the introduction, professors. It is truly an honor to stand amongst such august company today.

The Championship Tournament consists of three stages: the pools, a series of single-elimination matches fought to determine which challengers join the reigning League members in the top 32. Normally, only 16 participants graduate from pools to join the champion, the elite 4, the gym leaders, and the three league lieutenants, but with Champion Palmer stepping down, 17 challengers will make it out of pools to compete with the remaining 15 league members.

The top 32 is a double-elimination bracket, with the top 16 joining the Sinnoh Pokemon League. The reigning League members are allowed to decide their first opponent, by order of rank, and each must choose a challenger as their first opponent.

Then, the top 16 battle for rank. Everyone wants to be the champ, and with the departure of Palmer this is the best chance most of them will ever have.

Each match consists of three rounds: prime, loan, and raw. In the prime round, each trainer is allowed to use whichever six pokemon they choose. For the loan round, each trainer is given a team of six randomly chosen pokemon. Finally, in the raw round each trainer brings six pokemon they have not used in battle before. A trainer needs to be ahead by two rounds to take the match. In the very likely event that neither trainer is ahead by two after a cycle through each of the three rounds, they will battle again through the three rounds until one of them is either ahead by two wins or is unable to continue."

xxx

Cynthia had one friend competing in pools – just one. What are the odds she would be her very first opponent?

It didn't help Dawn was the only opponent Cynthia didn't think she could beat in the prime round. The girl had coasted through the Elite Four and the Champion on the strength of her Giratina. Even slaved to a pokeball, it was a creature of nigh unparalleled power.

Stepping into her booth, Cynthia studied Dawn across the arena. She was nervous, eager, anxious, fidgeting with her hair, constantly checking her poketch, stealing glances at the crowd and at Cynthia – everything but calm. Cynthia felt much the same (how could she not?), but was quite a bit better at hiding it, which she hoped would unnerve Dawn just a little bit. The blonde knew she would need every edge she could get.

The marshal for their match called for them to select their first pokemon for the prime round. Cynthia decided to take a risk.

"I forfeit this round" Cynthia called out, somehow keeping her voice level. The marshal was too stunned to ask her to repeat herself, which was very fortunate because Cynthia didn't think she could handle the opportunity to second-guess herself.

There was a method to her madness. She knew Dawn was a very emotional battler: she fed off her pokemon, and her pokemon fed off her. A close defeat, much less a victory, in the prime round would give Dawn enough of a confidence boost to make her truly dangerous. While the forfeit put Cynthia at the mercy of the loan round, she knew she had a huge edge in experience and preparation over Dawn, and should be able to crush her in the rounds where Dawn can't pull a God out of her hat.

Moving on to the loan round (in record time), both trainers were given five minutes to assess their team. Cynthia had been given Lickitung, Bastiodon, Weavile, Sudowoodo, Vespiqueen, and Leafeon. A perfect team, if Dawn was given six Sunkern, or perhaps Magikarp.

Her best option to lead with, she figured, would be Lickitung. While the Normal-type probably wouldn't have an advantage against Dawn's lead, Lickitung probably wouldn't be at a disadvantage either. Cyn should be able to win any fair match, and with any luck Lickitung would draw out any Fighting-type Dawn had. Cynthia would be able to counter with Vespiqueen or Leafeon before her major Fighting weakness could be exploited.

Prep time ticking out, Cynthia gave Dawn a level stare, and did not like what she saw. The girl looked positively ecstatic. Either she'd been sneaking lines of Rare Candy, which would be bad, or she had been given a fantastic team, which would be much worse.

At the marshal's signal, Lickitung took the field. Across the stage a flash of light materialized into an Altaria. Excellent. Dawn had very little experience using Dragons herself, and neither pokemon had a type advantage against the other. Lickitung would probably take some damage, but should be able to win without much difficulty.

The (now quite bored) marshal found a way to seem self-important even while clearing his throat. "Trainers ready?"

"Ready"

"Ready"

Swinging his checkered white-and-black flag, he called out, "Begin battling!"

"Lickitung, use Rock Tomb!"

"Fly fast to avoid the rocks and use Dragon Pulse!"

Lickitung needed to stand still to conjure the rocks to attack Altaria, while Altaria was flying so fast that he could avoid most of the rocks but couldn't muster much of an offense. Feeling a bit unimaginative but not having any better options, the trainers allowed this slapfight to continue for a little while. Here, Dawn's inexperience showed. She seemed to be winning, as Lickitung was taking more hits than he was inflicting on Altaria, but maintaining battle speed was just as debilitating for the flyer as the wounds inflicted on Lickitung were. Gradually, the toll of battle showed on both combatants: they were getting sloppier with their attacks, they were moving slower, and they were breathing heavier. As Altaria needed to dodge to survive, this favored Cynthia.

Dawn didn't realize just how bad Altaria was hurting until he flew straight into a cloud of rocks he had been able to avoid for the past 10 minutes. She hoped he had enough energy for one big hit.

"Altaria, Sky Attack! Finish Lickitung!"

Altaria climbed high before plummeting directly towards Lickitung. Too fast to stop, and too fast to be stopped by Lickitung's diminished efforts. Was he to fast to be nudged off course?

"Use Lick, Lickitung. This battle is yours!"

With herculean effort, the Licking pokemon proved himself worthy of the title. His great pink tongue leaped towards the heavens and battered the dive-bomber. The dragon was hardly hurt by this, but his focus had been shaken (or so Cynthia hoped). Of course, while Lickitung was busy licking, Altaria was getting very close very fast. The tongue monster managed to jump aside in the nick of time as the dragon slammed home. As the dust cleared, Cynthia saw Lickitung (quite unnecessarily) strangling the very unconscious Altaria. Attaboy.

The marshal declared Altaria unconscious. Dawn recalled the fallen dragon and revealed what had made her so happy (not drugs): an Infernape.

Not good. Very not good. Every pokemon Cynthia had for this round was weak to at least one of Infernape's types. Dawn had one of her own which she had raised since it was a Chimchar, so she knew it's strengths and weaknesses and wouldn't make the mistakes she had with Altaria. Cynthia was going to lose at least two, probably three, pokemon bringing it down.

Lickitung was finished off with almost contemptuous ease, being decked with one swift punch before he could even touch the ape.

Next up for Cynthia was Sudowoodo. Infernape would need to get close to use his Fighting attacks, which would give Sudowoodo the chance to land some hits of his own, or Infernape would have to stay at range and try to wear Sudowoodo down with ineffective Fire attacks. Infernape would probably prevail in either case, but not unscathed.

"Trap it with Fire Spin!"

"Rock Throw Sudowoodo!"

Unfortunately, Dawn had the better plan. Since Infernape was much faster, he was able to form the burning vortex and still have time to dodge Sudowoodo's counter-attack. Sudowoodo didn't take much damage from the attack, but the smoke and ash virtually blinded him. Infernape had more than enough time to land a decisive blow without much fear of retaliation.

As expected, the naturally aggressive ape was dashing forwards before Dawn told him to. Cynthia needed to think of something Sudowoodo could do to contribute without needed to see, or her next pokemon would be in huge trouble.

"Stealth Rock, as much as you can Sudowoodo."

"Take it out now, Infernape. Close Combat!"

A loose flock of rapidly growing and sharpening pebbles formed in the arena as Infernape surged forwards. Understanding the plan, Sudowoodo did its best to place as many rocks between itself and its enemy as possible, but hurried as the summoning was Infernape was able to smash through them with little injury.

Cynthia felt as much as she heard the punch Infernape delivered. Recalling Sudowoodo, it was some consolation that the hot-head seemed to have hurt his right hand, but was clearly still eager and fit for battle. Cynthia decided to try and take advantage of the remaining rocks by sending Bastiodon next. While possessing a much worse typing for fighting Infernape than Sudowoodo did, Bastiodon should be able to fight back better by using Metal Burst to counter the fire attac- never mind, her Pokedex screen was just dirty - Bastiodon knows Metal _Sound_. Oh well, maybe Stealth Rock will work better this time?

It did. A little.

While Bastiodon summoned more rocks, Infernape blinded her with Fire Spin and charged with Close Combat. Bastiodon met the ape head-on, rushing blinding into his fist. Cynthia's pokemon was gravely injured, but due to her superior mass and lower center of gravity was able to remain standing and send Infernape flying. Cynthia's best option to scare a bit more damage before Infernape got back up was to have Bastiodon hit him with the remaining rocks.

Infernape rose slowly as the stones closed in. Dawn had her pokemon use Agility to gain an extra burst of speed, allowing him to avoid the rocks and knock out Bastiodon. An effective move from Dawn, but it would cost her. The effect of Agility was only temporary, and Infernape could ill afford the energy spent on the maneuver. The ape was still dangerous, but was definitely on his last legs.

Cynthia took the full minute allowed to send out her next pokemon, wanting to ensure the extra speed from Agility would wear off. Vespiquen was up next, and like a true monarch flaunted her power and importance by sending for her servants. A host of immature Combee erupted from her underside and mobbed the burning monkey. Sluggish gouts of fire tried to keep the swarm at bay, but there were just too many, and Infernape was too tired. Dawn looked mournful as she recalled her champion, but she was not yet broken.

She wasted no time selecting her next pokemon. From the loaned pokeball sprang the machine-geist Rotom. It was an excellent choice to counter Vespiquen: the ghost's typing made it difficult for the queen to damage it, and Rotom's electric attacks would be highly effective at striking down both the queen and her Combee court. Still, Cynthia wasn't worried. Even if Vespiquen lost now, Weavile would be able to clean up Rotom with no trouble at all, leaving leaving Dawn up three pokemon to two – great odds for the blonde now that Infernape was out of the picture.

Cynthia instructed the Combee spread out, adopting a loose formation so Rotom's most powerful attacks wouldn't be able to wipe them all out at once. Vespiquen fired off Air Slashes through the loose screen at Rotom, the scythes of wind eviscerating a few unfortunate Combee but racking up crucial damage on the ghost. Dawn decided to clear out the chaff first, with Rotom using several bursts of Thundershock to zap the little bees. The loss of the Combees weakened Vespiquen, but also opened up some more attack options now that she didn't need to worry about them getting in the way (much).

Vespiquen switched from Air Slash to Power Gem, launching several spheres of orange energy at Rotom, while the ghost fired a mighty Thunderbolt in return. Both pokemon chose to focus on attacking over dodging, and both attacks struck true to great effect. Rotom's radiance was dimmed as it floated about aimlessly, shedding a few sparks but no longer mustering the energy it had before. Vespiquen was barely keeping herself off the ground, the jewel on her forehead cracked and her right arm hanging limp.

"Both pokemon are unable to continue battling. Trainers, recall them immediately!" crowed the marshal with surprising vigor. Dawn and Cynthia did as they were told, leaving Cynthia the dilemma of choosing who to send next: Weavile or Leafeon. Both had their own strengths, weaknesses, and limitations, and Cynthia had no idea what Dawn would send out next. She settled on Leafeon, on the basis that he had no double-weaknesses and would therefore stand a better chance against the anything Dawn might have up her sleeve.

Leafeon emerged from his pokeball, and was greeted by Dawn's Lopunny. The ensuing battle was quick and brutal. The initiative rested with Leafeon, who was far more capable of attacking at range than Lopunny. The loaner Leafeon was trained well enough to recognize this and began to lash out with Giga Drain as Lopunny advanced slowly, but was overridden by Cynthia. She knew Lopunny was trying to bait Leafeon into over-committing to a powerful special attack, which would give the far more nimble bunny an opening to dash forwards and pummel the grass eeveevolution with Ice Punch (a very similar scenario had occurred ewith Cynthia's own Leafeon). Instead, Cynthia told Leafeon to meet Lopunny's charge directly. Leaf Blade clashed with Ice Punch, Lopunny struck first but Leafeon struck last, her superior power and durability prevailing over the normal's speed and agility.

While victorious, Leafeon was far from unbowed. While Cynthia was now tied with Dawn in remaining pokemon, one was badly hurt and the other had a double helping of glass jaw at its best. The blonde can be forgiven for cheering when she saw Dawn send out Seaking onto their waterless arena. With the agility one would expect from a fish out of water, Seaking's efforts at tagging Leafeon with Ice Beam were as futile as they were valiant. Leafeon was even able to recover some energy with Synthesis in between dodging and attacking, and ended the battle with Seaking in better shape than she had began.

Dawn was now down one pokemon to two, and should not have been wearing her today-I-won-a-gym badge-and-caught-three-pokemon-and-tonight-I'm-going-to-drag-my-childhood-guy-friend-shopping smile. Irritating as it was, Cynthia had to admit it was more than justified when Dawn sent out her final pokemon: Garchomp.

The luck of that girl...

Unfortunately for Dawn, she had learned everything she knew about battling with Garchomp from watching Cynthia. Fully-evolved dragons are difficult to control even for an experienced trainer, and poorly trained dragons have a tendency to succumb to their base instincts. Judging by the quality of the other loaned pokemon, Dawn's Garchomp wouldn't have the conditioning, experience, and initiative to know the dragon tamer clan's ancient secret of not catching ice attacks with it's face. Cynthia had no doubt her Weavile would be able to finish Garchomp if Leafeon lost, but she had so much to gain by finishing the round with Leafeon and keeping Weavile a secret.

Leafeon's greatest weapons against the walking shark were her small size and great agility.

Dawn, knowing Leafeon was far more dangerous up close than far away, instructed her Garchomp to blast away with Dragon Rage from across the arena. At this range Leafeon was able to avoid the dragonfire.

What Garchomp should have done next was creep forward while using Dragon Rage to keep Leafeon from rushing in. Leafeon would quickly run out of room to maneuver and would need to charge Garchomp, which was a fight Garchomp could win.

What Garchomp did do next was get agitated at watching dinner prance across the field untouched by his projected fury and charge. What little control Dawn had over her dragon was lost when Leafeon turned and ran away, Garchomp's predatory instincts in full force. Garchomp thundered ahead when Leafeon turned back towards the dragon, and with a burst of speed from Agility was able to avoid his snapping jaws and sweeping claws and hamstring him with Leaf Blade. The land shark was truly out of the fight when he crashed to the ground, carried on by his own momentum. Leafeon jumped on the dragon's back and slashed with abandon until Dawn gave in to her compassion and recalled her pokemon.

The score was now tied at 1 round apiece.

Next was the raw round. Officially, this round was to be fought with pokemon neither trainer had used before, but there was a loophole to the rule: to be eligible for the raw team, a pokemon cannot have been released from a pokeball before. Pokemon that were trained before they were captured, however, were allowed. Training nominally wild pokemon was quite a bit more difficult, time consuming, and expensive, which was the entire point: the raw round vastly favored career trainers with the resources to afford performance enhancing drugs, evolution stones, and a large supply of healing items (the pokemon centers looked very poorly on trainers abusing this loophole). The insular dragon tamer clan excelled in this round, which played a major factor in their over-representation at the highest echelons pokemon leagues across the world.

Cynthia only stood a chance of competing with the best at the raw round thanks to the financial backing of her friend Steven Stone (who had probably gotten through a lot more battles in the Hoenn tournament than Cynthia had by now). Dawn, with too little money and too much honesty. Didn't stand a chance, though the girl sure seemed to think differently.

"That was pretty good, Cynthia" she called out, "So I think I'll give you a choice for this next round: time, or space."

She couldn't mean...

"Space" Cynthia mumbled. She doubted Dawn heard her, but it hardly mattered. If the girl was bluffing, Cynthia didn't stand a chance. On the off chance Dawn was just playing with her mind, she decided to start off strong with Canis, her Arcanine.

At the official's signal, both trainers released their first pokemon of the round.

"Play time Canis!"

"Gooooo Luvdisc"


	2. Still Pools Day 1

Still Pools Day 1

Cynthia checked her pokedex. Twice, just to be sure. "_Dialga, the Temporal pokemon. It is thought to be responsible for the appearance of the Indian elephant._" Steel and Dragon typing.

Not a Luvdisc.

"Just kidding, Cyn. His name's actually Bill."

The impish grin that plastered itself across Dawn's face did not budge as Bill annihilated Cynthia's Arcanine. Or her Elektross. Or her Toxicroak.

Hawlucha heroically managed to land a brutal flying supplex on Dialga. The bird still lost, of course, but Dialga savaged him slightly slower than he had Cynthia's other pokemon.

As the blonde contemplated the utterly pointless choice of whether to send Starmie or Tangrowth out next, Dawn recalled Bill and sent out her Palkia, Ted. "_The Spatial pokemon_" chirped Cynthia's pokedex, "_It is thought to be responsible for the disappearance of the African elephant._" Ted made predictably short work of Cynthia's remaining pokemon.

2-1 in Dawn's favor. Back to the prime round. No dodging Giratina this time.

This is bad for Cynthia, but maybe not insurmountable. Her much-weaker raw team had managed to damage Dialga, and Dawn can't possibly have a fourth legend to back up Giratina. With a bit of luck, Spiritomb might even be able to take Giratina out with Destiny Bond, and outside of Giratina Cynthia had a clear edge over Dawn.

Or maybe Dawn has been training Giratina diligently. Only one way to find out.

With the arena shifting to a grass field punctuated by trenches of still water, Cynthia settled on leading off with Milotic. There were many good reasons for this that became quickly irrelevant. Flashes of light from both sides revealed Cynthia's Chips and Dawn's Grim. Her _Giratina_, Grim.

"_Giratina, the Renegade pokemon. Sinnoh mythology holds that Giratina was cast from reality for it's efforts at creating a new breed of elephant._"

Dawn was still grinning ear to ear, but it was her serious grin, meaning she probably didn't have another legend. She might have five more though.

"Ooooh, you're actually gonna _try_ this time Cyn? I hope Bill and Ted didn't traumatize you _too_ badly."

"You've made this interesting, Dawn, but it's time to show you why _I _didn't need the antithesis of reality to carry me through the pokemon league!"

Cynthia had seen Grim in battle only when Dawn demolished the elite 4 and Palmer (who seemingly lost to every challenger in the twilight of his championship). Grim was incredibly powerful, durable, and fast, but not quite capable of beating a champion-quality team alone. Every bit of damage Chips can dish here out matters.

The blue-head's response was cut off by the marshal signaling the round to begin.

Milotic began with Mist to obscure Giratina's vision, and leapt into the water just in time to avoid a wave of Dragonbreath. Well hidden by the mist and water, Milotic shot brief streams of ice at Giratina, not strong enough to seriously harm him but excellent at forcing Giratina to move and prevent him from charging up a more powerful attack. It wasn't clear if the monster was getting tired or just bored, but as the mist began to fade it had plenty of fight left. Milotic would need to jump out of the water to set up another veil, and when she did she would be vulnerable. Cynthia decided to take a risk.

Jumping out of the water, Milotic launched a brutal Hydro Pump. Giratina rushed towards the gout of water and disappeared, reappearing behind Milotic and still charging. Chips lashed out with Dragon Tail, not needing to see to hit such a massive creature so close. Grim felt the hit, but it wasn't nearly enough to stop his momentum as it slammed into Chips.

Time to give Spiritomb a shot.

"Use Shadow Ball at full strength and get ready, Legion." Cynthia's command was a code she had taught Spiritomb, so she could tell it to use Destiny Bond without actually saying so. Not knowing Destiny Bond was coming made it much harder for the opponent to play around, something Cynthia had learned from experience.

Giratina, as expected, disappeared before the black orb struck, winking back to reality above Spiritomb and unleashing it's own torrent of darkness, which was gracious enough to obscure the pale nimbus surrounding Legion.

The stream of blackness ceased as both pokemon fell to the ground.

It worked.

Being the deity of the heat-death of all existence is a pretty raw gig, apparently.

Cynthia's position was better now, but hardly secure. Dawn was still going to win every raw round. Cynthia knew she could win the prime round as long as Dawn doesn't figure out how to counter Destiny Bond, which she is entirely capable of (eventually). Cynthia would be able to win the next loan round handily with her hidden Weavile, but that surprise would only work once. Counting on Dawn staying stupid is not a good strategy.

What is a good strategy, is counting on Dawn being empathetic. She was closer to her pokemon (or at least her main team) than nearly any trainer Cynthia had met, and the blue-haired girl hated two things above all: seeing them hurt, and denying them. Easy personality traits for the jaded blonde to capitalize on.

Dawn wasn't smiling as she selected her next pokemon.

"Feeding time Yuchi!"

"Get 'em Oswald!"

Cynthia's Garchomp vs Dawn's Empoleon. Cynthia couldn't have asked for better. Empoleon was Dawn's baby, more so than her other pokemon. Oswald had been the girl's very first pokemon, as an Piplup years before she became a trainer. Nothing was more painful for her than watching the penguin suffer.

Garchomp has a lot of practice making things suffer.

A quick Earthquake began the fight, sprawling the rigid bird and spoiling her attempted Blizzard. As Yuchi charged, Oswald snapped off a burst of Flash Cannon rounds, but a weak Twister was enough to foul her aim. Garchomp knocked Empoleon to the ground, pinning her with her bulk as the shark's jaws clamped down on the penguin's neck. Oswald tried everything to throw Yuchi off – slashing with her wings, flapping icy wind, blasting water at the ground to propel herself upwards – but each effort was more feeble than the last, and as her neck-plate crackled and crumpled Dawn started to panic. When Garchomp began to pry Oswald's armor off with her claws, Dawn gave in and recalled her pokemon.

Next up for Dawn was her Weavile, Ra's. Likely a preview of the coming loan round. Funny how these things happen, isn't it?

Sadly for the girl, Weavile has quite a bit of trouble putting his type advantage to work against Garchomp. He tried to blast Garchomp away with Ice Beam and was countered by Flamethrower. He tried to slow Yuchi with Icy Wind and was countered with Incinerate. His Ice Shards were batted away by Dragon Rage. Dawn couldn't figure out how to get Ra's in to deliver the killer Ice Punch Weavile was feared for.

As the battle dragged on, Ra's was getting the worse of every exchange. His anemic special attacks paled in comparison to Garchomp's, and he lacked the shark's endurance and toughness. If Ra's had just gone for it, he might have been able to at least hurt Yuchi, but Dawn was still leery after what Garchomp did to her Empoleon, and over the next 20 minutes her Weavile just...faded away.

Dawn's next pokemon was Harleen, her Staraptor. She tried to bait Yuchi the same way Cynthia had baited Dawn's loaned Garchomp with Leafeon, but Yuchi knew better. Waves of dragonfire forced Harleen to back off far enough for Garchomp conjure a field of Stealth Rock. Dawn saw the writing on the wall: her best opportunity to attack was now, while Staraptor was still healthy and before Garchomp could summon too many rocks to be unreachable.

Tucking in her wings, Harleen shot towards Yuchi like a bolt of lightning, breaking through a final gamut of rocks to slam into Garchomp. Their struggle devolved into a mess of flailing claws and talons. Garchomp rose before long, battered but refusing bow. Cynthia was shocked by how much fight Yuchi had left in her – that hit from Harleen was brutal, and she had beaten two very strong pokemon before that.

Hoping to regain some momentum and her smile, Dawn sent out Infernape, her most aggressive pokemon. Wasting no time, Antonio rushed Yuchi. Garchomp put up a show of force with Dragon Rage, but lacked the energy to seriously threaten the ape. As Infernape lunged for the finishing blow, he was deflected by a hastily mustered Hyper Beam. Yuchi had neither the time nor the strength to unleash anything resembling a fully powered Hyper Beam, so the damage to Infernape would have been mostly cosmetic had Antonio not been knocked into one of the water-trenches dividing the arena. By the time Antonia had crawled back onto land, Yuchi had recovered from the self-paralysis that follows using Hyper Beam and let off another volley of Dragon Rage. The attacked clipped Antonia as he rolled to evade, and lunged at Yuchi, aiming a punch at the shark's head, and hitting nothing at all as Cynthia recalled her pokemon.

Not sure whether Dawn or her Infernape was more annoyed at this intervention, Cynthia waited as long as the marshal would allow before sending Togekiss onto the field. The adrenaline of fighting Yuchi had worn off, and Antonio offered only token resistance as Yolk's Aura Spheres found their mark. Dawn wanted to recall Infernape, but Antonio wanted to remain fighting as long as possible. Dawn acquiesced, respecting her pokemon's fighting spirit, but she couldn't help but wince at every hit Antonio suffered.

Dawn's final pokemon was Alec the Torterra. Alec attempted to use Stone Edge, but was incessantly disrupted by Yolk's volleys of Air Slash. A massive barrage of leaves from Torterra's tree managed to break through the scythes of air and injure Yolk, but the effort left Alec too weak to fight for much longer as the cutting wind intensified.

Heading into the second loan round, they were tied at two rounds apiece. The stage this time was a gravel field dotted with piles of rubble. No water, which would work against Dawn and her Seaking.

Cynthia chose to send out Bastiodon as her first pokemon. She was her least useful against Dawn's team, and there was the very slight possibility Dawn would lead with Lopunny, whom Bastiodon should be able to handle with ease. Instead, Dawn sent out Infernape. It was a brilliant choice, really: of the five pokemon Dawn had seen Cynthia use, Infernape was massively advantaged against all of them, and given that Cynthia had chosen not to use her 6th against Infernape, Dawn could be confident the 6th was also at a disadvantage against the fire monkey. Every casualty inflicted would give Cynthia fewer options to handle the rest of Dawn's team.

As the battle began, Cynthia realized she was actually in a worse position than she had been the previous fight between the two pokemon. Bastiodon had some leftover Stealth Rocks to work with last time, and Infernape had been somewhat injured. She had no chance of hitting Infernape with a blind charge this time around. Infernape was quite content to hammer away with fire attacks. Bastiodon tried to answer with her own Stone Edge, but the nimble fire fighter was able to avoid every volley of rock sent at him, and the revived fossil expired without landing a hit.

Checking Sudowoodo's known moves on her pokedex, Cynthia noticed something she hadn't seen before: Explosion. That's perfect! How did she miss that earlier?

Sudowoodo's rematch with Infernape began the same as before: Infernape blinded the tree with Fire Spin, Sudowoodo tried to work some Stealth Rock magic, and Infrenape ran forward to break the rock's face. This time, Sudowoodo broke his own face first.

The blast threw Infernape across the arena, slamming into Dawn's booth. He slid to the ground and did not get up.

Next up for Cynthia was Vespiquen, whom she figured would be able to take down any pokemon Dawn sent out next. Opposing the monarch was Lopunny. Cynthia decided to try and conserve the Combee, keeping them back to contribute to the queen's Bug Buzz. Lopunny used Agility to avoid the sound waves and rush forwards, but each time a few Combee broke from the swarm to keep Lopunny from reaching the Vespiquen. By the time Agility had worn off, Lopunny had defeated a small portion of the Combee flock but was unable to continue dodging Bug Buzz effectively, and after one too-slow tumble was down for good.

Wanting to ensure the defeat of the queen and her court, Dawn sent out Rotom. Cynthia let the battle play out the same as before, exchanges of Power Gem and Thunderbolt knocking out both combatants, the blonde confident that so long as she didn't fall behind she would win this round.

The double-KO left Cynthia with Weavile, Leafeon, and Lickitung against Dawn's Altaria, Garchomp, and Seaking. Lickitung, Cynthia could afford to lose, so he was up next, met by Dawn's chaff Seaking. Less than graceful himself, Lickitung sustained far more damage than any pokemon should have against a fish out of water, but won out wrapping Seaking with his tongue and slamming the fish into the ground over and over and over.

The tongue monster was equally unimpressive, and far less amusing, as he was beaten into the ground by Dawn's Garchomp.

"Time to shine Weavile!"

Tossing curving Ice Shards and dustings of Icy Wind, Weavile put Garchomp on the defensive. The land shark was forced back until he ran out of arena.

One peculiar fact about Garchomp is that the species absolutely hates being restrained. Were they less capable of destroying any cage on a whim, their condition might be called claustrophobia. It isn't relevant very often, because Garchomp are so aggressive that any opponent trying to restrain one typically needs to knock it out first. Several well-respected researchers believe Garchomp's condition is a consequence of being a flightless relative of the many fully-evolved flying dragons. Losing to Leafeon had shamed Garchomp into obeying Dawn better this time, but being forced against the wall of the arena was a trigger for Garchomp. Striking in a berserk fury, the dragon batted aside Weavile's Ice Shards and charged through the Icy Wind as he charged at the elfin trickster. In it's rage, the dragon made mistakes, its snapping jaws and heavy slashes easily evaded by it's smaller foe. A missed swipe with it's arm-fin put Garchomp just so slightly off balance, and Weavile pounced with an Ice Punch uppercut that even the frenzied dragon couldn't shrug off.

Dawn tried, and failed utterly, to hide her disappointment as she sent out Altaria to flounder for a little while against Weavile. A few well-aimed Ice Shards and a raw round forfeit brought the trainers to the prime round again, tied 3 rounds each.

This time, the stage was a grass field painted like a pokeball, with water filling the dividing lines.

Dawn looked dejected as she released Empoleon. Cynthia, knowing Dawn wouldn't dare lead with Giratina again, had chosen Garchomp to lead the charge. Oswald put up more of a fight this time, throwing the water from the stage against Yuchi to great effect, but the shark out of water was just faster, stronger, and tougher. Empoleon was thrown around like a ragdool and beaten like a red-headed stepchild for 20 minutes (though his crest had been broken in just 7 minutes) before a distraught Dawn recalled him.

Grim was up next, Dawn not wanting to watch Yuchi run through half her team again. To deny Dawn the pleasure of seeing her Garchomp beaten to a pulp, Cynthia brought Yuchi back and threw out Legion. Giratina struck at Spiritomb's purple-streaked-with-green miasma and, having learned absolutely nothing, followed the other ghost into unconsciousness.

The next bout was a very fast and very harsh exchange between Infernape and Lucario. Barely moving by the end, Infernape nonetheless stood while Lucario fell, which is what Cynthia wanted. Too weak to fight and too stubborn to give up, Antonio gave Roserade the perfect opportunity to finish the round herself.

Volleys of poisons needles and paralyzing spores kept the weakened ape back while Roserade put down roots and unfurled her leaves, drawing energy from the sun, soil, and water of the stage. Infernape fought valiantly, but was so weak after fighting Lucario that he could barely defend himself, much less strike at Snowberry. Dawn could see what was happening, but Infernape hated giving up too much for her to recall him. Roserade gave Infernape a glimmer of hope when she used Sunny Day, the intense sunlight stoking his own flame enough to let him fight on a bit longer. Every unnecessary wound Antonio suffered was like a stake through Dawn's heart, but the real twist of the knife was Roserade's visible joy at this mockery of a pokemon battle. Snowberry honored Dawn with a bow and a flourish when Infernape finally fell (Cynthia swore she could hear the girl grinding her teeth). The blonde was glad to have finally found a productive outlet for Snowberry's sadistic streak.

Staraptor came out next, hoping to nip this problem in the bud, but it was too late. A lancing Solar Beam pierced the bird's left wing. Harleen hurtled down to earth before being enveloped by a mass of strangling vines and a cloud of toxic dust. When Staraptor quit struggling, the vines receded. Harleen mastered a few steps in Snowberry's general direction before collapsing. The marshal called the bird out, sparing Dawn the burden of deciding to recall her or not.

Ra's fared little better. Engorged on excess energy, Snowberry sprouted an entire forest of scything briars, lashing vines, and flowers spewing debilitating spores. For every plant, Ra's hacked through, two more grew in it's place. Once the stun spores took hold, Ra's couldn't even squirm in protest as Snowberry hurled him into the air. Dawn barely recalled him before he hit the ground.

Last was Torterra. Fighting for Dawn's pride more than any hope of victory, Alec bulldozed through Snowberry's domain with a surge of power from the scorching sun. Whips from Roserade's arms struck Torterra's eyes, the deadly venom blinding the great turtle, but it continued to charge through Roserade's ensnaring vines. A barrage of Solar Beams struck, bringing Alec down mere inches from the ingrained Snowberry.

As Roserade bowed to Dawn once more before being recalled, Cynthia worried she might have overdone it. Dawn was a wreck after that round, and during the following loan round it showed. The girl barely watched the fight, and what few commands she did give hurt her pokemon more than they helped. Vespiquen and Weavile took out her entire team, enjoying their walk in the park. The stress had gotten to Dawn; she'd given up and her pokemon followed.

Still, a win is a win. Cynthia did what she needed to keep her shot at the championship alive. All she'd hurt were Dawn's friends and feelings – wounds time would heal.

The rest of Cynthia's matches for the day were dull and unsatisfying by comparison. Some kid out of his league that had received a first-round bye, a middle-aged woman in an Eevee costume with a team of Eeveevolutions, a junior dragon tamer that hadn't done his reading on Togekiss and Fairy-types, and an exhausted psychic that had relied too heavily on his gifts his previous four battles offered little challenge for Cynthia's victorious prime team and her eager-to-redeem-themselves raw team.

With her battles done for the day, she decided to see how Steven was doing.

"Having fun yet, Stone Cold Steven Stone?"

"Not as much fun as you, Cyn. Did you make all the little girls you battled cry, or just your friend?"

"Hey, it's her fault for being so caring and compassionate – if she were more like you, she probably would have won."

"Well, making young children cry _is_ the cornerstone of the rich man's burden, and I guess she _was_ asking for it by bringing three legendaries to the tournament, wasn't she?"

"You bet your sweet bippy she was, though the rest of my matches for the day just seemed kinda dull after beating Dawn."

"I'll bet. After the tournament, we are going see about bringing your exclamations into this decade."

"I'm not spending that much time with you for free, Stevie."


End file.
